How to have a Perfect Philly day, according to Pulitzer-winning writer Quiara Alegría Hudes

Quiara Alegría Hudes grew up on the little street of South Saint Bernard near West Philly’s Baltimore Avenue, but her family spanned the city and its borders. As a child, she shuttled between her home and her mother’s extended Puerto Rican family in North Philly, while regularly visiting her father’s white, Jewish family on the Main Line.

Her writing is often rooted in Philly, though it spans borders and mediums, too. She cowrote the Tony-award winning musical In The Heights with Lin-Manuel Miranda, and won a Pulitzer in 2012 for her play Water by the Spoonful. Her 2021 memoir, My Broken Language, told the story of growing up in West Philadelphia and being the first in her family to attend college, at Yale.

Now Hudes, 48, is experimenting once again with a new form: her debut novel, The White Hot, is out this month. It’s a fever dream fantasy about a young mother from North Philadelphia escaping her predetermined life — and her child — in order to reckon with the “white hot” rage that sometimes consumes her and the women in her family. It’s a gem of a book, poetic and propulsive at the same time.

“Was my leaving a seed that might bear fruit?” April, the main character, wonders. “The possibility cracked open like a slitted envelope, that fleeing the stovetop and laundry machine could big-bang a new universe.”

Here’s how Hudes, who now lives in New York City, would spend a perfect Philly day.

It starts on Christmas morning. Our across-the-street neighbors, Tracy and Charlie, bring over their pound cake.

The main event of the morning is that we head over to the Art Museum steps. The city’s empty, you can double-park on the street.

We climb up to the top of the steps in our pajamas and just hang. It’s magical and sleepy. The city has that wintery, cold air, blue-silver look to it. You’re looking through your crystallized breath.

We walk through Center City to Sam’s Morning Glory Diner. (We’re definitely doing some time travel: Now it’s a more temperate fall day.)

Of course, this is all on foot because, no shade, in my experience SEPTA just doesn’t come. This is how I became a reader as a kid, because I had to do something while waiting for SEPTA.

At Morning Glory, they make their own ketchup. This is of utmost importance. Also, their biscuits are the best biscuits I’ve ever had, but even that pales in comparison to the homemade ketchup.

It’s never fancy with me — just give me two scrambled eggs and home fries, and some rye toast.

We go on a Black history tour of Philly, with tour guide Mijuel K. Johnson of the Black Journey. He’s wonderful.

Even as a middle schooler, walking over the old cobblestone bricks of Old City, there was that sensation that 20 feet below, history is literally buried. It’s nice getting new layers of the historical story.

Some walking tours can be: fact, fact, fact, and my eyes gloss over. But Mijuel is not just rattling off facts, he’s really contextualizing stories.

After all that walking, you want to sit down. The best bet is to go over to the Landmark Ritz Five and see what’s playing. Just go to the next show and enjoy it.

We head south, and stop at Garland of Letters on South Street. It’s the O.G. New Age bookstore.

They’re always burning some great-smelling incense, they always have a huge amethyst geode that costs $5,000. They have a fountain with water trickling. It’s just peaceful — let the vibes center you.

I go to Fante’s Kitchen Shop, a kitchen supply store. It’s the splurgy place. They’ve got copper pots and knives and kettles that looks so fancy. I’ll look for whatever I can afford.

Then we swing around the corner to John’s Water Ice. I always have the same conversation with them: I say, “Once upon a time I had a flavor called Tutti Frutti here,” and they say “No, such a flavor never existed.” I describe it, and they’re like, “Well, would you like a mixed cherry and pineapple?” And then I have it, and it’s amazing.

For dinner we go to Marrakesh. We’re walking, we have not taken a taxi. If the bus has gone by, we popped on it, but we don’t wait for it.

This is either with an old friend who you need to spend hours catching up with, or date night. It’s all covered in blankets, and it’s candle-lit. It’s very romantic and magical in there. You’re leaning against pillows, you might be sitting on the floor.

They have a set menu, it’s Moroccan food. The dish I remember most is the B’Stella: it’s kind of like scrambled eggs and very finely diced chicken inside a flaky pastry that’s got sugar on top, so it’s sweet and salty.

You just gab the night away as they bring you food.

For our next stop, we are going to rely on the bus. It’s just too far to walk at this point.

We go to Taller Puertorriqueño, the Puerto Rican culture workshop in North Philly. They have literary and musical events there. Maybe they have a Nuyorican author in town, or a Philly-Rican poet reading their work.

They also have an in-house bookstore called Julia de Burgos Bookstore. It’s fantastic: they have English books, Spanish books, and local artworks and jewelry.

It’s way past my bedtime. I catch an Uber, or drive home.